Melissa Joan Hart to Lead Westport Country Playhouse's ANY WEDNESDAY Reading

Melissa Joan Hart, a Westport resident and star of television, film, and theater, will be featured in the romantic comedy "Any Wednesday," a benefit playreading to support Westport Country Playhouse's Script in Hand series, on one-night-only, Monday, July 29, 7 p.m. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse artistic advisor. Tickets to the benefit playreading are $100, $50, and $25. Tickets include the playreading and post-performance "Meet the Cast" reception.

"We are delighted to have this opportunity to celebrate our beloved Script in Hand Playreading Series with this special benefit reading of 'Any Wednesday,' and doubly delighted to welcome the talented Melissa Joan Hart to our Playhouse stage," said Michael Ross, Playhouse managing director. "Proceeds from this benefit performance will allow us to continue to keep these wonderful evenings accessible and affordable."

Keefe stated, "One of my inspirations for playreading titles comes from perusing the long list of past plays at The Playhouse. I was glancing through the 'A's' one day while a copy of Westport Magazine was sitting on my desk. My eye caught 'Any Wednesday.' I looked over and saw a picture of Melissa Joan Hart on the cover of the magazine and a plan took shape."

Hart will play the role of Ellen, the disarmingly innocent mistress of a wealthy Manhattan businessman and philanderer, who visits his paramour in the executive suite every week on Wednesdays. A Broadway smash hit, the comedy is written by Muriel Resnik.
Melissa Joan Hart can currently be seen in the ABC Family series "Melissa & Joey." She executive produces the half-hour comedy along with her co-star Joey Lawrence. Hart is best known internationally for her starring role in "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," which is produced by her company Hartbreak Films in association with Viacom and aired on The WB and ABC Networks. The show is also in syndication around the world and has inspired two "Wonderful World of Disney" movies, "Sabrina Goes to Rome" and "Sabrina Down Under," both of which she produced and starred in after the success of the first TV movie "Sabrina" shot for Showtime in 1995.
Hart first made her mark in television playing the title role in Nickelodeon's "Clarissa Explains It All." Winner of numerous Youth in Film awards for her work, Hart was nominated for a CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for "Clarissa Explains It All."

In film, Hart starred in the romantic comedy "Drive Me Crazy," for which she won a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award. She was in the graduation night comedy "Can't Hardly Wait," and recently starred and executive produced the thriller "Nine Dead."

Hart made her Broadway debut opposite Martin Sheen in "The Crucible." She also starred opposite William Hurt and Calista Flockhart in The Circle Repertory production of "Beside Herself" in 1987. Hart has since returned to the stage to star in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," and also appeared in the Los Angeles production. She most recently was in Nora Efron's Off-Broadway show "Love, Loss and What I Wore."

Hart currently resides in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and three sons.

Keefe added, "I'm so looking forward to working with our latest new neighbor on a lovely play that is as funny and honest as it was when it was first produced!"

Director Anne Keefe served as artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse with JoAnne Woodward in 2008, and as associate artistic director from 2000-2006, also with Ms. Woodward. She co-directed with Ms. Woodward the Westport Country Playhouse production of "David Copperfield," and directed many Script in Hand playreadings.

Additional casting will be announced soon. Artists are subject to change.

Script in Hand sponsors are Marc and Michele Flaster; Script in Hand partners are Ann Sheffer and Bill Scheffler. The series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to The Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

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